tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59201144110437040112018-03-13T05:00:28.950-07:00Books, Books and More Books“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” ― C.S. LewisTania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.comBlogger115125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-1891770606300644992017-12-06T13:14:00.000-08:002017-12-06T13:14:23.329-08:00Sometimes its Trial and Error other times its ...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pEAg1srZZo8/WXfUl-Ubp0I/AAAAAAAABBg/mFXinhK_mk4nfnrfw-v2FqYyxmMjUv9tACLcBGAs/s1600/trial%2Band%2Bterror.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="458" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pEAg1srZZo8/WXfUl-Ubp0I/AAAAAAAABBg/mFXinhK_mk4nfnrfw-v2FqYyxmMjUv9tACLcBGAs/s320/trial%2Band%2Bterror.jpg" width="222" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><b>Blurb:</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The good news, Public Defeder Summer Neuwirth just won her first case.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The bad news was, her defendant might have been guilty.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">And what's more, he seems to know something important about Summer's past.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">As Summer battles her next case, this time tokeep a women she knows is innocent off death row, elements of that past - a mysterious case f childhood amnesia, her police officer father's involvement with a serial killer, a terrifying attack she sustained just a few years prior - entwine with her present legal work, her missing mother, and her rocky relationship with a pricate investigator to culminate in a thrilling trial ... and terror.</div><b><br /></b><b><br /></b><b>Review:</b><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I don’t want to go into the whys and wherefores of the plot as I am sure that loads of other reviews have touched on this.&nbsp; I would rather review the book a whole.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The book is written in such a way as the writer leads the reader into a journey that is basically a roller-coaster which leaves the reader breathless.&nbsp; However, the ending was rather strange and a bit beyond reasonable logic.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The characters are numerous which makes it difficult to keep track of who is who; and of the major characters there is little or no back story additionally, we, the reader, are expected to accept all this at face value.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The overall layout of the book was also confusing and there were large jumps between the chapters that jarred with this reader.&nbsp; Sometimes the chapters were not announced at all and the reader was meant to make quite a few logical leaps in the narrative which did not necessarily work as the author intended.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There are twists and turns a plenty yet the overall ending felt rushed with the majority of the questions raised in the book taking place in the last few pages.&nbsp; The ending was unexpected and to be honest would anyone of the heroine’s intelligence really have done what she did?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I loved the idea of this book even though it was slightly cliché ridden.&nbsp; It seems that this book had loads of potential and yet fell a bit short.&nbsp; But if you like this genre then this may well be the book for you.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Thank you Netgally for providing me wth a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">I rated this book 4 stars on Netgalley, 3 stars on Good reads and</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-71066159747983981422017-07-15T15:47:00.000-07:002017-12-06T12:58:08.641-08:00Nothing is as it seems ... <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OR5d8P1jTJc/WWqZa8vjbxI/AAAAAAAABA8/UAxfaMc_szgdh-7RxbifnE-4KQLInDC3QCLcBGAs/s1600/zoo%2B-%2Bjames%2Bpstterson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="210" data-original-width="137" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OR5d8P1jTJc/WWqZa8vjbxI/AAAAAAAABA8/UAxfaMc_szgdh-7RxbifnE-4KQLInDC3QCLcBGAs/s1600/zoo%2B-%2Bjames%2Bpstterson.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Blurb</b>:<br />All over the wold, brutal animal attacks are crippling entire cities, &nbsp;Jackson Oz, a young biologist, watches the escalating events with an increasing sense of dread. &nbsp;When he witnesses a co-ordinated lion ambush is Africa, the enormity of the impending violence becomes terrifyingly clear.<br /><br />With the help of ecologist Chloe Tousignant, Oz races to warn world leaders before it's too late. &nbsp;The attacks are growing in ferocity, cunning, and planning, and so there will be no place left for humans to hide.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Review:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;<span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">I came to this novel having watched the first season of the TV show of the same name; and I wanted to know what had promoted the development of the show.</span><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">I usually find James Patterson’s psychological thrillers to be a bit lightweight compared to Jonathan Kellerman (but I guess that comes down to which author you read first).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">I am now quite sure how co-authoring a book works.&nbsp; Does someone have the idea and the other person write it or do they both write it or is James Patterson’s name on the book to help make it sell?&nbsp; Not being a fan of JP this book is not really in his favoured genre; and the writing, in places, was different. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I love a good science fiction book and unfortunately this was quite a bit lacking.&nbsp; I know people’s eyes glaze over when people write books that are science heavy but some science is necessary.&nbsp; However, here there is no great detail of the concepts behind the occurrence and very little technical jargon was used which begs the question as to how much research was actually done on the subject.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes the book is well written with a good pace, yet there is no change in the ‘voice’ of the book between all the various Points of View (‘POV’).&nbsp; There are also large gaps in the storyline that are not explained and left this reader scratching her head, not to mention the inconsistencies.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">The characters were a bit flat with few redeeming qualities and unfortunately JP used the romantic novel standard of insta-love.</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">I was surprised that part way through the book there was a rather large leap in the story with little or no explanation.&nbsp; I personally want to know what happened in those intervening years.&nbsp; All this said this book kept me interested so much so that I would be interested in reading the sequel that will surely follow; and I will be watching the TV series for however long it lasts.</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">So if you like science fiction (light on the science) and want a nice light entertaining summer read then this is one for you.</span></span></span></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-14596747118773667072017-07-14T14:37:00.000-07:002017-07-14T14:37:13.212-07:00Some crimes ate deadly but others are <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lGWUqsW2xIk/WWfkxCoVjQI/AAAAAAAABAY/5LoDHTcJ4IYApq2k8eSG4zEQNAEUj6o7gCLcBGAs/s1600/secret%2Bcrimes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="296" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lGWUqsW2xIk/WWfkxCoVjQI/AAAAAAAABAY/5LoDHTcJ4IYApq2k8eSG4zEQNAEUj6o7gCLcBGAs/s320/secret%2Bcrimes.jpg" width="199" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Blurb:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">The body of an attractive festival-goer is discovered on the rocky shoreline at Peveril Point.</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Two women</b>&nbsp;go away for the weekend, but only <b>one</b>&nbsp;comes back alive. Was it just the music they were into? &nbsp;And who was the man the victim met at the festival?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>DCI Sophie Allen</b>&nbsp;is back in charge after the emotional upheavals she suffered in 'Deadly Crimes', but is she really in control? &nbsp;And Detective Constable Rae Gregson joins the team and immediately faces challenged that put her life in peril.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Discover a gripping and detailed mystery that will have you hooked from the start until the stunning twist at the end.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Review:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">I just loved novel Dark Crimes.&nbsp; There is just something special about a British procedural novel but as I was reading this I was getting more and more confused as to why the beginning of this novel did not tie in with the ending of the previous novel and why the action seemed to have jumped forward in time.&nbsp; It was then that I realised I had missed a novel out.&nbsp; Despite the above my enjoyment of this novel was not affected. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif; line-height: 115%;">As before the story was well crafted with well researched procedural elements.&nbsp; The story is well paced and as usual there are lots of twists and turns in this novel that keep the reader intrigued until the end.&nbsp; It is interesting that the author is not afraid to tackle subjects that are controversial bringing them out into the open to be discussed and examined.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Obviously the focal point of the novel is the crime but without a strong cast of well-developed characters very little could occur.</span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Although Sophie is the main character this novel stresses the importance of team work when attempting to solve crimes.</span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">These are ordinary people doing a tough job under tough circumstances.</span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Sophie has just returned following an illness and not only her family but also her team rally around her.</span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">We also learn more about DS Marsh and are also introduced to another interesting character (I won’t say any more for fear of ruining the plot).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">As the characters are being developed with much more of their private life is being revealed (please can we have more of this); so too is the location of these stories.</span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">They are described in such great detail that one feels as though they are walking in their shadows along the same streets.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">This author’s books just keep getting better and if you love a crime novel you can’t go too far wrong with this novel.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange of an honest review.</span></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">I rated this 4 stars on Netgalley, Goodreads, and Amazon.</span></span></span></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-10729111927918214332017-07-13T14:17:00.000-07:002017-07-13T14:23:01.077-07:00More of a dull disaster<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vk4n9jqWrbY/WWff_QFTqfI/AAAAAAAABAE/2G-WQTQZt-UP1mDjLV4hV2TLcNRvVaH2wCLcBGAs/s1600/drean%2Bgirls%2B-%2Bpiper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="317" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vk4n9jqWrbY/WWff_QFTqfI/AAAAAAAABAE/2G-WQTQZt-UP1mDjLV4hV2TLcNRvVaH2wCLcBGAs/s320/drean%2Bgirls%2B-%2Bpiper.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Blurb:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">How far would you go to achieve happiness? &nbsp;What if it meant letting go of everything you'd once believed in?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Piper Allen is looking to spread her wings and unfortunately, her podunk hometown in Missouri is stunting her spiritual growth. &nbsp;Moving to Dallas to finis up college with her two friends, Stephanie and Nicole, she hopes to challenge herself to reach new heights. &nbsp;Her bohemian ways allow her to float through relationships frequently and with ease; when there are no strings attached, there is no chance of being hurt.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />Texas rancher, Moye McKenzie, is a no nonsense, good ol' boy, who doesn't play games where matters of the heart are concerned. &nbsp;When this straight-shooter walks into Piper's life, sparks fly and tempers flare. &nbsp;Wanting to give her the life she deserves, Moye has to show her that getting hurt can happen whether you're holding onto the reins or not.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If she could just let go, Piper might be surprised to find she's someone's dream girl.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Review:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Although this is not my favourite genre of novel I am quite partial to a good romance especially if it has an original well-written story and lovable&nbsp;characters.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">Unfortunately this novel is not at all original and uses cliché after cliché.&nbsp; In fact one could be reading any number of other books it was that formulaic.&nbsp; That said it made for a quick read and I did finish this novel.&nbsp; There was a sort of insta-love although the main character had cried off love and as regards the intrigue part of the novel I guessed that straight away; and there was the inevitable happy ending<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">The characters were reasonably well written but the angst of girls going off to college was something that grated on this reader’s nerves.&nbsp; None of the three girls really had anything going for them and, unfortunately, this reader did not relate to or like any of them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">The pace of the novel was OK&nbsp;but there were some elements that did not jell well.&nbsp; I did not feel any real connection to the novel or any of the characters but I did not hate it.&nbsp; It was a short novel of young adult love and I must say I was glad when it was all over.&nbsp; But don’t let my experience of this novel spoil yours if this is what you like to read.</span><b><span style="color: #181818; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Thanks go to Netgalley for providing me with the opportunity to provide an honest review in exchange for a copy of the novel.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">I rated this one star on Goodreads, 2 stars on Amazon and Netgalley.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-63879123526191914422017-07-13T13:55:00.002-07:002017-07-13T13:55:52.955-07:00Descendants of an old trade route<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ytb25UeEy44/WWfcGBGgegI/AAAAAAAAA_8/72YgFlPE-q0AMaf6Hb1RcBuZgOST8GyGwCLcBGAs/s1600/daughters%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bsilk%2Broad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="310" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ytb25UeEy44/WWfcGBGgegI/AAAAAAAAA_8/72YgFlPE-q0AMaf6Hb1RcBuZgOST8GyGwCLcBGAs/s320/daughters%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bsilk%2Broad.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br /><br /><b>Blurb:</b><br /><i>'She crossed over to the shelf where her father kept the dragon vase. &nbsp;He had placed it there when they first arrived in Venice. &nbsp;She took it down carefully, feeling it cool and comforting under her shaking fingers.'</i><br /><br /><b>Venice 1441: Maria</b>&nbsp;and her brother Daniele arrive in the birthplace of their father, Niccolo dei Conti. &nbsp;An Italian merchant who had travelled far and wide, Niccolo has brought spices from India, lengths of silk and damask from the lands east of India and porcelain; a vase of pure white, its surface decorated with a cobalt blue dragon, the Chinese symbol of good fortune.<br /><br />Maria settles in her new home, watching the magnificent and bustling city come to life each morning from her bedroom window. &nbsp;But while her father is away travelling, she soon finds herself and Daniele in terrible danger. &nbsp;She must protect her brother at whatever cost, and she <i>must</i>&nbsp;guard the delicate vase.<br /><br /><b>London 2015</b>: &nbsp;Single mother <b>Miranda</b>&nbsp;is struggling to make ends meet and build a new life for her and daughter Georgie. &nbsp;When Miranda meets the charming but mysterious Charles. she is intrigued. Could he be her second chance at love? &nbsp;And why is he so fascinated by the old vase sitting on her hall table ...<br /><br /><br /> <b>Review:</b><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">This is a wondrous historical novel that is well researched.&nbsp; This is a multi-generational tale with multiple time lines yet the main pivotal character is a Ming Vase, much revered by past generations yet loathed by the current generation.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I personally loved the interplay between the two main stories, one told in back story and one told in the current/future time line.&nbsp; Each timeline had different issues in the past there was trouble, in the present/future there is tension and mystery.&nbsp; Both stories include the journey of the vase from its origins in China to its current location.<b><span style="color: #181818; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt;">The novel was written in the third person, as though we were an observer to all the action.&nbsp; The description of historic events was fairly precise and although the characters were well researched and reasonably well written it was difficult to form an emotional bond with them.&nbsp; I thought that the modern day characters were unaware of the value of the vase, not least its historical value but also its monetary value until it was potentially too late although it caused some exciting intrigue for a while.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt;">One lovely aspect was that Miranda followed the journey of the vase and ended up in Venice.&nbsp; The description of Venice was spot on and it felt as though the story had come full circle and yet it felt a bit empty.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">If you like a bit of fact with your historical fiction then this novel, with its family saga elements and </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">intrigue</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">, may well be up your street.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I rated it 5 stars on Netgalley, 4 stars on Amazon and Goodreads.</span></span></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-36846570115310454052017-07-11T09:11:00.002-07:002017-07-13T13:48:48.361-07:00It is not what you think ...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SbVLDtxJE2M/WWT1qli1a1I/AAAAAAAAA_g/ZtfDGvlJQYQ2T3ELo7ZiGhqxLVy1nNfswCLcBGAs/s1600/the%2Bhatching.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SbVLDtxJE2M/WWT1qli1a1I/AAAAAAAAA_g/ZtfDGvlJQYQ2T3ELo7ZiGhqxLVy1nNfswCLcBGAs/s320/the%2Bhatching.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></div><b><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Blurb:</span></b><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">The first female president of the United States is summoned to an emergency briefing. &nbsp;Deep in the jungle of Peru, a black, skittering mass devours an American tourist party whole.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">FBI agent Mike Rich investigates a fatal plane crash in Minneapolis and makes a gruesome discovery.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Unusual seismic patterns register in an Indian earthquake lab confounding the scientists there.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">The Chinese government "accidentally" drops a nuclear bomb in an isolated region of its own country.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">And all of these events are connected.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">As panic begins to sweep the globe, a mysterious package from South America arrives at Melanie Guyer's Washington laboratory. &nbsp;The unusual egg inside begins to crack. &nbsp;<i>Something </i>is spreading ...</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">The world is on the brink of an apocalyptic disaster. &nbsp;A virulent ancient species of spiders, long dormant, is now very much awake. &nbsp;But this is only the beginning of our end ...</span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Review</b>:</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Who doesn't love a scary story about our favourite scary thing, spiders, which happened, in this case, to be carnivorous! &nbsp;I know this premise ma y sound ridiculous but this author makes it work. &nbsp;The right amount of initial tension reals the reader in and then the story explodes in more ways than one.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Initially there were a lot of elements that were seemingly unrelated, and strangely confusing, with a large cast of characters. &nbsp;However once the various stories linked up, and the characters substantially reduced, the reader is taken on a rip roaring ride.</span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">There were parts of the book that got a bit long winded and bogged down by technical details but otherwise this is a rather unique scary story.&nbsp; The writing is what saw me through the down times together with the interesting characters and their various Points of View (‘POV’).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">The characters are realistic and relateable and cover a diverse section of society from the US President to experts and the FBI.&nbsp; The reactions of the ‘common people’ were often times stupid and mistake laden.&nbsp; In one instance a main character did not pay nearly enough attention to the area in question.&nbsp; The writing also begs the question ‘how would you react in this situation?’<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">I can appreciate that the wide range of characters involved in this novel enhances the scope of the problem but there seems to be a few too many main characters and it is just not possible to really get under their skin.&nbsp; It is this reader’s hope that more of their characters will be revealed in later books (the story was too open ended for this to be a stand-alone novel).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">There seems to be an emergence of spider related phenomena throughout the world and this ancient species appears not just to be hatching here or there but everywhere (that emphasises the scope of the problem).&nbsp; What could come across as implausible is not as the author keeps us grounded not merely on the human reaction side but also on the natural side – these emerging ancient spiders have a long life cycle (which is extremely plausible – consider the corpse plant that flowers once every 100 years).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Somehow a zombie apocalypse seems a bit too far-fetched, yet a spider apocalypse seams all too real and relateable.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">The story was left open ended and it is this reader’s fervent hope that there will be a sequel as there were a load of unanswered questions.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br />The Hatching is this author's debut novel and this reader looks forward to seeing not only how this series, but also how this writer develops n the future. &nbsp;If you want a fairly realistic horror story that has just the right amount of tension and makes your skin creep, by an author who can stand shoulder to shoulder with Dean Koontz, Michael Crichton or even Stephen King then do yourself a favour and read this one, you can't go far wrong.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">I also rated this on Amazon (4 stars) and Goodreads (4 stars).</span></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-39060865650298160932017-07-11T08:40:00.001-07:002017-07-13T13:48:35.946-07:00All part of life's rich tapestry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WYNAt-Hw0rk/WWQA4srwHqI/AAAAAAAAA_E/dw9dFU0QCMYPOGCOOIYB1dDDR8wkuiUtQCLcBGAs/s1600/A%2Btapestry%2Bof%2Bsecrets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="307" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WYNAt-Hw0rk/WWQA4srwHqI/AAAAAAAAA_E/dw9dFU0QCMYPOGCOOIYB1dDDR8wkuiUtQCLcBGAs/s320/A%2Btapestry%2Bof%2Bsecrets.jpg" width="206" /></a></div><br /><br /><b>Blurb:</b><br /><b>This Decade-Spanning Novel of Family and Faith Will Delight</b><br />Now in her eighties, Perla Phillips has carried a secret since she was eighteen years old. &nbsp;When she sees her granddaughter, Ella, struggling for perfection, she decades to share her secret to show that God can use even the biggest mistakes for good. &nbsp;But before she can reveal what happened during that summer sixty years ago, she has a debilitating stroke.<br /><br />Carrying a secret of her own, Ella arrives back in Wise, West Virginia, to help her aunt Sadie care for Perla. &nbsp;Both know the woman wanted to tell them something, but she's now locked in silence. &nbsp;Together they begin looking into the past, but they may learn more than they expected.<br /><br />Will they have the courage t share their hearts? &nbsp;Or will the truth reman buried forever?<br /><b><br /></b><b><br /></b><b>Review:</b><br />I did not realise that a) this was the third book in the series; and that b) it was a religiously themed book. &nbsp;If I had known either I would have avoided this book like the plague. &nbsp;But then I would have missed out on a good read. <br /><br />Although this is the third in a series it is a stand-alone and this reader had not read the previous novels which did not really matter. <br /><br />Unlike other religiously based books the religion did not seem false but rather an integral part of the lives of the characters involved. &nbsp;These characters were well developed and in its own way unique and the reader definitely roots for each of the characters. &nbsp;Each character has secrets and troubles that they need to overcome and the reader feels as though they are experiencing journey with Ella and Pearl. &nbsp;Indeed the challenges faced by these two characters are ones that many of us have experienced in our lives at some time (and for some of us this included questioning our faith, and how our dreams and actions align with God’s plan for us).<br /><br />Equally the town within which they live is believable. &nbsp;I live in the UK and have never been to the US and despite not having read the other novels, the author describes a small rural town that the reader immediately falls in love with (a la Little House on the Prarie-esque yet a modern take). &nbsp;In this town everybody knows everybody else – and family is central to everything.<br /><br />That said this is a stand-alone novel sure if one were to read them all there would be more depth to the story. &nbsp;The plot moved along at a nice steady pace. <br /><br />Overall this is a nice heart-warming gentle novel with some but not loads of drama. &nbsp;The reader becomes invested in the characters, making you want to read to the very end. &nbsp;If you love these types of books with a perfectly plotted story line, then I would highly recommend this one for you<br /><br />Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.<br /><br />I rated this 3 stars on Amazon and 2 stars on GoodreadsTania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-3890762445462727462017-06-30T15:57:00.000-07:002017-07-13T13:48:08.658-07:00When is an Alchemist's code not an Alchemist's code ...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K3hE7N83Ykg/WVbOTpQ-aqI/AAAAAAAAA-o/QCf_fIdCFUwoXmmegDDM0IHckbs3nv7mQCLcBGAs/s1600/the%2Balchemists%2Bcode.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K3hE7N83Ykg/WVbOTpQ-aqI/AAAAAAAAA-o/QCf_fIdCFUwoXmmegDDM0IHckbs3nv7mQCLcBGAs/s1600/the%2Balchemists%2Bcode.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Blurb:</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">The first of a gripping conspiracy thriller series for fans of Scott Mariani and Dan Brown.</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">A dark figure. &nbsp;A secret code. &nbsp;A battle between good and evil...</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Years ago the Knights Templar developed&nbsp;a secret code. &nbsp;A code so secret that&nbsp;only one man could remember&nbsp;it.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">The code&nbsp;lies in the hidden&nbsp;recesses of <b>Lorenzo Aragona's</b>&nbsp;memory. &nbsp;The alchemist&nbsp;has always known it, but, until he crosses paths with a beautiful but brutal Russian spy, he does not realise&nbsp;its significance.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">In a race against&nbsp;the clock&nbsp;from Naples to Kiev, <b>Lorenzo</b>&nbsp;uncovers&nbsp;an ancient history involving&nbsp;Nazis and Freemasons, secrets and spies. &nbsp;He must remember the code, unlock the Baphomet and take control of The Guardian of the Threshold. &nbsp;The lives of the Pope, his dying wife&nbsp;and all of mankind&nbsp;are at stake and only <b>Lorenzo </b>had the power to save&nbsp;them.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Review:</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">I love historical mystery novels of which there are a great deal written.&nbsp; The ones I like the most make use of an historical myth and base a novel around it; then at the end (in the noted) they tell you what is real and what is fiction.&nbsp; Some authors are more successful than others, unfortunately this is the latter.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">As I was reading this novel I was confused by the title.&nbsp; The main protagonist was a sort of Alchemist in the sense that he was an esoteric expert; and there is a sort of code that needs to be deciphered relating to a mythical society which drove the novel shortly.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">The main protagonist - Lorenzo Aragona was dislikeable and full of me-itis. &nbsp;Although he appears to be living an ideal life nothing is quite as it seems. &nbsp;As the story develops whatever Lorenzo did appeared at odds with what a reasonable person would do or how they would react.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">The actions of Lorenzo were not helped by the fact that the author was not content to just include one historical&nbsp;myth and deal with that thoroughly. &nbsp;Instead he not only included &nbsp;secret =society from World War II but also the Knights Templar, alchemy, various other people described as evil; and last but not least the Pope. &nbsp;With so much going on it got very confusing very quickly.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">It would have been far better just concentrating on the Thule society and getting his facts and figures about them well researched and well developed including the actions of the protagonist. &nbsp;Instead this author does ot seem to know where he is going with any of the story lines leading to a very confusing&nbsp;and badly researched novel.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">There are lots of areas in this book where the narrative was repeated, there are some areas that lack credibility&nbsp;and a lot of inconsistency&nbsp;where subsequent actions do not mesh with what had happened before, leaving the reader really confused. &nbsp;Equally many of the characters are not developed at all and/or are just labelled something without further explanation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">The first part of the novel is really extraneous with the majority of the novel, or at least the action parts, taking place over s dozen or so pages.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">This novel was very confusing and was not n the least bit original. &nbsp;The narrative&nbsp;was&nbsp;incoherence&nbsp;to say the least and fairly reminiscent of another best-selling novel that will remain nameless.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Thank you Netgalley (and the publishers) for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">This novel was rated 2 stars on Goodreads and 3 stars on Amazon.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-89030421852668725512016-10-03T19:24:00.000-07:002016-10-03T19:24:37.719-07:00After the man is hanged ...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aOVY6mpUljg/V_MPelZdBXI/AAAAAAAAA8o/m-9LDEeSYowwB5sAPs1a0j_1dzNOidj3ACLcB/s1600/We%2Bare%2Bdeath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aOVY6mpUljg/V_MPelZdBXI/AAAAAAAAA8o/m-9LDEeSYowwB5sAPs1a0j_1dzNOidj3ACLcB/s320/We%2Bare%2Bdeath.jpg" width="212" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Blurb:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Morlock is coming. &nbsp;Death will follow.</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">DCI Jericho may have evaded the Hanged Man, but he knew there was something missing. &nbsp;He knew there was still someone out there &nbsp;He knew there would be more death...</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A man is murdered on the Somerset Levels, a bullet in the head from three feet. &nbsp;Jericho soon learns there was a connected killing the previous day in the Swiss Alps.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Death comes in the post, quickly strands from the past become entangled: the hunted mountaineers, a long lost secret, the mystery of Jericho's wife and the covert organisation, working in the shadows, always in control.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Joined by DI Badstuber of the Swiss police, Jericho travels across Europe to North Africa, chasing an invisible killer. &nbsp;But Death is always one step ahead, while his past, sinister and terrifying, is closing in.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>Review:</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was not really sure what to expect from this book as I found the previous book rather difficult to get into as I am not really in to satire in any way shape or form.&nbsp; As it turned out this one was easier to get into not least that we knew the characters and it was a straight police procedural that continues on from the first.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The unseen hand that guided the events in the first book is back manipulating the characters once again and leads them on a manhunt across Europe.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This author writes real characters and this novel only builds on this all the while having a dark humour running through the entire novel.&nbsp; I love the interaction between Jericho and Hayes.&nbsp; I also enjoyed the Hayes’s romance which in no way detracted from the novel itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The plot was reasonably well plotted and the author’s research was good; the descriptions of the other countries were consistent with those of other novels this reader has read.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Unfortunately, there were a few unresolved issues from the first novel, together with unresolved questions from this novel, which I hope will be dealt with in the next novel in the series, of which&nbsp; am sure there will be one.&nbsp; One thing that did stick in this reader’s craw was what Jericho did with his inheritance – I mean would a real person really do that?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you love police procedurals, especially British police procedurals, with a bit of bite and a lot of&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">creep. &nbsp;Or if you love the works of Douglas Lindsay then this novel is definitely one for you.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange of an honest review.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I reviewd this as 'It was OK' on Goodreads and Amazon.</span></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-46661922702884037922016-07-28T15:03:00.006-07:002016-07-28T15:03:51.855-07:00It is all about<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZfYsZXEudes/V5qBLspcz3I/AAAAAAAAA7w/gx8ITMBlC3clJMVhBoyGstTbXRNAni--ACLcB/s1600/the%2Bobsession.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZfYsZXEudes/V5qBLspcz3I/AAAAAAAAA7w/gx8ITMBlC3clJMVhBoyGstTbXRNAni--ACLcB/s320/the%2Bobsession.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Blurb:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Naomi Carson is a survivor. &nbsp;As a child, her family was torn apart by a shocking crime. &nbsp;It could have destroyed her, but Naomi has grown up strong, with a passion for photography that has taken her all around the world.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, at last, she has decided to put down roots. &nbsp;The beautiful old house on Point Bluff needs work, but Naomi had new friends in town who are willing to help, including Xander Keaton - gorgeous, infuriating and determined to win her heart.&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But as Naomi plans for the future, her past is catching up with her. &nbsp;Someone in town knows her terrifying secret - and won't let her forget it. &nbsp;As her new home is rocked by violence, Naomi must discover her persecutor's identity, before it's too late.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Book Club Review:</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Reading a Nora Roberts novel is like speaking to a friend you have not seen for years and it being like you saw them yesterday.&nbsp; Such is with this novel.&nbsp; I went through a spate of reading Nora Roberts books and then took a break.&nbsp; I picked this one up as it my book club’s choice for the month and it was just like that; meeting an old friend or snuggling up with a cup of tea in front of a fire on a winter’s day.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As one would expect from one of Nora’s books the plot was engaging, well-paced and beautifully executed.&nbsp; The characters were well-rounded, beautifully written, and complex with their lives entwined as is the case for those who grew up and live in a small town.&nbsp; Nora pays as much attention to her secondary characters as she does to her primary characters making her readers all in love with everyone; and the town within which they reside.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This book was listed as romance/suspense, yet the first few chapters are hard hitting and unsettling to say the least.&nbsp; The tone is hopeful although the happenings are scary and sinister.&nbsp; The novel does not concentrate on the doer but rather the aftermath and how it affects the family.</span><b><span style="line-height: 115%;"> &nbsp;</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;">And instantly one wants the best for Naomi and her brother, Mason.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The book then jumps forward to a teenager Naomi and then again to an adult Naomi.&nbsp; Which suits the story really well and through it all you get to know these complex intriguing characters at different points in their life (some more so than others – I personally would have loved to have more of Mason (perhaps he will get his own book?)).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The romance part is well done and features reader’s eye candy.&nbsp; Someone figures out Naomi’s past but waits until she is ready to reveal it to him.&nbsp; He (the eye candy) even gets her to adopt a dog!&nbsp; How great is he?!&nbsp; All in all the romance and the thriller parts were well balanced.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">I did figure out who the antagonist was but this was towards the end of the book as her brother was tracing Naomi’s moments.</span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">And as it turned out I was correct.</span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">I don’t usually guess ‘Who did it’, but the excellent writing and clues did help this time.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Sometimes authors who have written as many books as Nora Roberts get to write to a formula and their books start to feel the same.&nbsp; This is not the case with Nora.&nbsp; She usually writes trilogies but this is a one off – well I do hope Mason gets his own book (but that is my psychological mystery bent coming out!).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">My only complaint was that the book finished too quickly.&nbsp; I would have loved to have seen more interaction with Mason and the killer and (as I have said before) it is my fervent hope that a further book (or two) will be written about Mason.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">If you love Nora Roberts and some suspense with your romance you will love this book.<b> </b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">We read this for my Book club and I rate it 4 stars.</span></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-56269162349111013762016-07-28T14:30:00.002-07:002016-07-28T14:47:13.116-07:00Not all is well in the garden, even <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1ueBOHEkgbg/V5p19-aJnkI/AAAAAAAAA7g/kuGU10ZgeA8K5oXvPEZ4g4SrlfJc3y9uACLcB/s1600/the%2Bbutterfly%2Bgarden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1ueBOHEkgbg/V5p19-aJnkI/AAAAAAAAA7g/kuGU10ZgeA8K5oXvPEZ4g4SrlfJc3y9uACLcB/s320/the%2Bbutterfly%2Bgarden.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Blurb:</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Near an isolated mansion lies a beautiful garden.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In this garden grow luscious flowers, shady trees ... and a collection of precious 'butterflies' - young women who have been kidnapped and intricately tattooed to resemble their namesakes. &nbsp;Overseeing it all is the Gardener, a brutal, twisted man obsessed with capturing and preserving his lovely specimens.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">When the garden is discovered, a survivor is brought in for questioning. &nbsp;FBI agents Victor Hanoverian and Brandon Eddison are tasked with piecing together one of the most stomach-churning cases of their careers. &nbsp;But the girl, known only as Maya, proves to be a puzzle herself.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">As her story twits and turns, slowly shedding light on life in the Butterfly Garden, Maya reveals old grudges, new saviors, and horrific tales of a man who'd go to any length to hold beauty captive. &nbsp;But the more she shares, the more the agents have to wonder what she's still hiding ...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Review:</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Having read this novel a while ago I am still not sure whether what it said on the cover was what I actually read.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The main story is told in flash-back – interview style, as the FBI are interviewing Maya, an escapee, after the fact. &nbsp;However, when you are in the story Maya is telling it is as if you are actually there shadowing her. &nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The sadistic nature of the book is revealed slowly and with some forethought so as not to trouble the reader too much but leaving enough to the reader’s imagination to fill in the terrible gaps in the narrative.&nbsp; The pace is relentless and totally fascinating (especially if you love psychological thrillers).&nbsp; What could be a totally macabre situation is handled exceptionally well such that is seems that such a novel has never been written before; and although the reader may loath the gardener they are equally rooting for the release of the flowers or rather butterflies.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Given the nature of the books one would think that the characters in the story are somewhat 2 dimension yet these women are fearless and strong.&nbsp; There are so many characters yet each one is unique and they do not get lost in the collective.&nbsp; Each character has clarity and leaves a distinct impression on the reader.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yet there is just something that does not ring true with Maya, which is revealed at the end of the book.&nbsp; And to be honest when the big reveal was made (and oh my goodness it is a whopper) would any sane person have put themselves in that situation?&nbsp; Thus an incredibly detailed plot was left to fizzle out like a wet firework.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thank you etgalley for allowing me to provide an honest review of this book, which in this case is 4 stars.</span></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-9094751620275089482016-07-28T14:12:00.001-07:002016-10-03T19:44:37.074-07:00All that we see is not all that is there<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U4hZFuyL1Uc/V_MLzqCs_1I/AAAAAAAAA8U/dHXlxebt-oEU5VsJ1A85JNH_APmRTDNfACLcB/s1600/in%2Bthe%2Blight%2Bof%2Bwhat%2Bwe%2Bsee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U4hZFuyL1Uc/V_MLzqCs_1I/AAAAAAAAA8U/dHXlxebt-oEU5VsJ1A85JNH_APmRTDNfACLcB/s320/in%2Bthe%2Blight%2Bof%2Bwhat%2Bwe%2Bsee.jpg" width="213" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Blurb:</span></b><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Brighton, 1938: &nbsp;Grace Kemp is pushed away by the family she has shamed. &nbsp;Rejected and afraid, she begins a new life as a nurse. &nbsp;But danger stalks the hospital too, and she'll need to be on her guard to avoid falling into familiar traps. &nbsp;And then there aer the things she sees ... Strange portents that have a way of becoming real.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Eighty years later, Mina Morgan is brought to the same hospital after a near-fatal car crash. &nbsp;She is in terrible pain but recalls nothing, &nbsp;She's not even sure whom to trust. &nbsp;Mina too sees things that others cannot, but now, in hospital her visions are clearer than ever...</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Two women, separated by decades, are drawn together by a shared space and a common need to salvage their lives.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Review:</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">Having recently finished this book I really don’t know what I feel or even how these two stories were related to each other.&nbsp; I thought the end was rather rushed and did not tie the two stories together as far as I was concerned.&nbsp; This is really a book of two halves; one a psychological thriller and the other a historical novel (to a point).&nbsp; The element that ties the two stories together is the supernatural element that is spooky and certainly well done being an integral part of the story as it is shared by both the women in the book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">That said I will deal with each part separately.&nbsp; In the psychological part the tension was built gradually.&nbsp; As the reader is aware of the larger picture we see the larger picture and often want to yell at the Mina just to warn her of the impending danger.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">The historical part of the novel could be said to be a friendship saga.&nbsp; We are also told about the daily grind of a student nurse (Grace), the lowest rung on the medical hierarchy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">Mina is a surprisingly strong character but still vulnerable and from part of her back story she is not the most likeable person, yet after the accident see sees people, things and herself in a different light.&nbsp; In contrast, Grace is naïve and also vulnerable but she grows the most throughout the book and gains both strength and determination.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">But detailed characterisation is not just reserved for the main character but is also given to the supporting cast such as Grace's best friend and roomie Evie and to Mina's Aunt Pat thereby enriching the main characters and giving the story more depth.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">The one element that joins these two women together is they are able to see things that others cannot – a sort of second sight.&nbsp; This is also where the two stories sort of come together.&nbsp; Mina is hospitalised and starts to see Grace.&nbsp; It just so happens that the hospital that Mina is in was where Grace worked many years ago.&nbsp; Never once did Mina cross into Grace’s timeline.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">As far as this reader was concerned there were quite a few unresolved issues.&nbsp; Why did Grace go into nursing? Why did Grace reach out to Mina? Why was there no other obvious connection between the two women?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">Perhaps the two stories should have been dealt with as two separate novels and thereby each story could have received better treatment, the back story (of which I am sure there is a great deal in each case) could have been told, and some of the unresolved issues could have been cleared up.</span><b><span style="color: #181818; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></b><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">Take all this together and add an element of romance and you have a novel that is difficult to pigeon-hole with is clearly written, well plotted yet entertaining and annoying in equal measure. &nbsp;But the ending did leave this reader rather flat but that is just my opinion. &nbsp;Form you own by reading this strangely haunting book.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to provide an honest review in exchange for receiving this book which I rated as 'It was OK' on Goodreads and Amazon.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;"><br /></span></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-67733497035722583922016-07-28T14:12:00.000-07:002016-10-03T18:51:34.723-07:00A great new British author to keep an eye on<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NhMH56t9K2Q/V5px92Io8gI/AAAAAAAAA7U/Jra4XkZnG9MVx9kDXZW-vrwGwmtlhFblQCLcB/s1600/dark%2Bcrimes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NhMH56t9K2Q/V5px92Io8gI/AAAAAAAAA7U/Jra4XkZnG9MVx9kDXZW-vrwGwmtlhFblQCLcB/s320/dark%2Bcrimes.jpg" width="199" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Blurb:</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Introducing DCI Sophie Allen in an exciting new detective series that will have you gripped from start to heart-stopping finish.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>A young woman's body is discovered on a seserted footpath in a Dorset seaside town late on a cold November night. &nbsp;She has been stabbed through the heart.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It seems like a simple crime for DCI Sophie Allen and her team to solve. &nbsp;But not when the victim's mother is found strangled the next morning. &nbsp;The case grows more complex as DCI Sophie Allen discovers that the victims had secret histories, involving violence and intimidation. &nbsp;There's an obvious suspect but Detective Allen isn't convinced. &nbsp;Could someone else be lurking in the shadows. someone savagely violent, looking for a warped revenge?</span></div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Review:</span></b><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Michael Hambling is a new author to me as this is a new series.&nbsp; A UK author, a likeable detective, and a South West Coast of England setting.&nbsp; There is just something about UK authors that strikes a chord with me and it is so good that they are coming more to the fore.&nbsp; My only question is ‘Why has it taken so long for these UK authors to make a dent in a previously US dominated field?</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The beginning of this novel is rather brutal (which I love) and does not let-up until the last page.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The plot is well written – and although the reader does not know who did what until the end, seemingly unlinked murders have a sole protagonist.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It is lovely to see a strong driven lady lead, who is not too damaged and un-intimidating – unless the occasions required it.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">&nbsp; </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">She stands up for her team who she can manage with an iron hand should the occasion arise.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">&nbsp; </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Yet her main mission is seeking the truth and blast the politics.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">&nbsp; </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">The secondary members of the team all have their own foibles and enhance the main character adding contrast not just to her but also to the story as a whole; making rounded secondary characters. In sort all the characters are believable with their own traits that that make them personable and relateable.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">&nbsp;</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The police procedures seem to be well researched and there is painstaking detail so much so that although there is some repetition it all seems natural in the grand scheme of things.&nbsp; No matter what the story shows the links seem to be tentative at best yet the detective shows her worth, and indeed why she is a DCI.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The storyline is well paced and well plotted and quite complex with many a twist and turn to keep the reader guessing until the end.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">One pet peeve of mine is that UK authors have to revert to Americanisms to sell their books.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">&nbsp; </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Be strong and stick to what you know.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">So if you love a complex, character driven police procedural novel you can’t go far wrong with this one.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">&nbsp; </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">I will definitely be on the look-out for more books by this author.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">&nbsp;</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to provide an honest review of this novel which in this case</span></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> is 4 stars.</span></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-71491571026639967112016-07-28T13:43:00.001-07:002016-07-28T13:43:08.081-07:00Little fun projects which are just right for ...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8x531L2e-BY/V5pqs_rhF-I/AAAAAAAAA7E/w0txA4-FaLMyyGyAo2KtWRo2n5WjHhWFACLcB/s1600/my%2Bfirst%2Bknitting%2Bbook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8x531L2e-BY/V5pqs_rhF-I/AAAAAAAAA7E/w0txA4-FaLMyyGyAo2KtWRo2n5WjHhWFACLcB/s320/my%2Bfirst%2Bknitting%2Bbook.jpg" width="224" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Blurb:</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you want to learn to knit, you only need a ball of yarn, knitting needles, some patience - and this book! &nbsp;It's the ideal introduction to knitting, with easy-to-follow, full-color instructions for more than fifteen projects. &nbsp;Clear, step-by-step explanations of basic techniques make this guide great for beginners of all ages, especially those wishing to create handmade gifts. &nbsp;An introduction explains the how-to of knitting, from holding the needles ad yarn to casting on, basic stitches, and finishing touches. &nbsp;Patterns start out a simple as can be and gradually become more challenging, although by no means difficult. &nbsp;Readers can advance from bracelets, hair ornaments and pocketbooks to scarves and hats, in addition to a charming variety of household decorations.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Review:</span></b></div><div class="WordSection1"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This was a well informed and written, in simple, age appropriate language.&nbsp; The stitches are on the simple, well explained, and accompanied with clear diagrams and pictures.&nbsp; As an experienced knitter there are a few patterns that I want to try especially the Owls.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Although there are the traditional egg cosies they are given a twist and everything is done in bright modern colours.&nbsp; I particularly love the idea of cup wraps and knitted coasters.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I though the hearts project was more complex however this allows the beginner to stretch their wings and try more advanced techniques.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There are also some scarves to make and the one I like, the purple, one is not just a plain stocking stitch pattern but has a bit of design flair too to make it attractive to the more discerning youthful knitter.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There is even a section on how to deal with dropped stitches which is great and saves the knitter from unravelling their work and getting disappointed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, there are two errors in my copy.&nbsp; For example on the ‘Mixing Stitches’ page there I a chard under Number 4 that related to Number 4 (for which there is already a chart).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The second error is for the Egg Cozies project.&nbsp; I says for the carves “Size B (2.25 mm crochet hook) But the pattern states “Cast on 5 sts.” Then “work in garter stitch”!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In short would I give this, a ball of wall and pair of knitting needles to an absolute beginner; I don’t think I would.&nbsp; But I would use is as an aide memoir and a project book to accompany classes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to review this book, which I give 4 stars.</span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br clear="all" style="mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: always;" /></span></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-73757646797851271622016-07-27T14:18:00.001-07:002016-07-27T14:18:43.300-07:00Surely the US title 'The Chosen' is a far better title for this novel as she was not ...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KD-n-lh6AIk/V37JOw4Ac6I/AAAAAAAAA6I/5jKeGgDVcZkfZ6y_6KKNPGbiXB-M3mItgCLcB/s1600/last%2Bto%2Bdie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KD-n-lh6AIk/V37JOw4Ac6I/AAAAAAAAA6I/5jKeGgDVcZkfZ6y_6KKNPGbiXB-M3mItgCLcB/s320/last%2Bto%2Bdie.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br /><br /><b>Blurb</b>:<br /><b>He watches. &nbsp;He waits. He kills ...</b><br /><br />When Jessie Conway survives an horrific mass high school shooting, in the aftermath she finds herself trust into the media spotlight, drawing all kinds of attention. &nbsp;But some of it is the wrong kind.<br /><br />A sadistic serial killer, had been watching her every move. &nbsp;A skilled hunter, he likes his victims to be a challenge. &nbsp;Jessie is strong, fearless, a survivor, and now ... she is his ultimate prey.<br /><br />As the killer picks off his current victims one by one, chasing, killing and butchering them with his crossbow, he's closing in in Jessie ... But will Jessie defy the odds and escape with her life? &nbsp;Or will she be the killer's final sacrifice ...<br /><br /><b>A clever, dangerously twisted thriller that will have fans of Tess Gerritsen and Karin Slaughter gripped until the very last page.</b><br /><b><br /></b><b>Review:</b><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Self-proclaimed as 'A gripping psychological thriller' but as far as this reader was concerned there was next to nothing psychological about it (not like Jonathan Kellerman or Jeffrey Deaver) nor was it all that thrilling. &nbsp;But I only discovered this after the fact!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The first few chapters were gripping and held a lot of promise for the book as a whole but&nbsp;</span>continuing<span style="font-family: inherit;">&nbsp;reading that&nbsp;potential was not exploited.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The last section of this book was fairly gripping but there was so much backstory and scene setting that nothing really started happening until chapter 38.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One thing that did annoy me was that the author could not decide the name of one of her characters. In a few pages at the beginning of the novel there was a particular person who was referred to as Adam Edwards. &nbsp;However after these few references the name was changed and thenceforth he was referred to as Alan Edwards, a little thing I know but if the author &nbsp;cannot decide his name why should we be invested in their characters?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This story is told from multiple Points of View ('POV') which also meant that there was a certain amount of overlap in the stories. &nbsp;Also this constant change interrupted the story so that the new character spent quite a while talking about their feelings and there was extraneous dialogue. &nbsp;The killer was neither compelling nor scary ... all the killings were intimated at but never once was one described in detail.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The female lead was neither completely likeable nor completely hateful as were the remaining characters. &nbsp;As with such books of this ilk they all do things that are rather silly but for the female lead when she was in peril she did use her head more than most and happened upon an unlikely weapon. &nbsp;For this reader the chase was the bet part of this novel.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Unfortunately there were not many twists ad turns or red herrings in this novel apart from its title (perhaps the more appropriate American title of &nbsp;'The Chosen' should have been used in the UK).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For this reader this particular novel was really disappointing. &nbsp;It seemed that there too much story overlap, too many unnecessary details, and too many typos. &nbsp;All things that lead to a rather disappointing read.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thank you Netgalley for a chance to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The novel was rated 2 stars overall.</span></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-33224677039429952332016-07-27T10:20:00.004-07:002016-07-27T10:29:03.151-07:00I think I should have started this series from the beginning ...<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--VOPWWBWzW0/V5jspYGXk1I/AAAAAAAAA60/zg2UMWXOuuAV7MGTIJMcRhr7R2gbT8iNwCLcB/s1600/Corpus%2BDelicti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--VOPWWBWzW0/V5jspYGXk1I/AAAAAAAAA60/zg2UMWXOuuAV7MGTIJMcRhr7R2gbT8iNwCLcB/s320/Corpus%2BDelicti.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;"><b>Blurb:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Criminal defence lawyer Helena Flemming has fallen out of love with John Eisenmenger.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Devastated, Eisemenger finds solace and distraction by reluctantly return to his life a a forensic pathologist.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">His first case reunited him with DI Beverley Wharton; a woman who is notoriously cunning and who refuses to take no for an answer. &nbsp;Beverly is jealous of Helena and has history with Eisenmenger, but when she receives some devastating personal news she delves deeper into her cases and realises she needs help ...</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">A young petty criminal is found stabbed leaving an elderly mother devastated, and the obvious suspect is a man who had threatened to kill him just hours before.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">There is pressure on Beverley to close the case, but she is not so keen to follow orders, especially when Eisenmenger discovers that the weapon is a surgical scalpel.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">For once she decides to follow her instincts rather than politics at the station.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">There is enough circumstantial evidence to charge a local thug with murder but something does't add up and Beverly risks everything to find the truth.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">With all this going on, the accidental death of a motorcyclist seems trivial, except that the body seems to have too many organs ...</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Eisenmenger is immediately consumed by this disturbing discovery and when he realises Helena is missing, he and Beverly stumble upon an evil enterprise that puts both their lives in grave danger ...</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;"><b>Review:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">I do hate it when Netgalley ‘blurbs’ do not indicate that the book is a number in a series, in this case number 7.&nbsp; So the main characters have a load of history and are well defined.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">I must admit that I was rather confused by the number of characters initially introduced in this novel who appeared to fall by the way side and yet they reappeared in the latter stage of the book.&nbsp; I was also slightly confused by the use of Christian and surnames and who was siding with whom.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">There is obviously a great backstory to these characters which has been dealt with in previous novels yet it is quite easy to join the party in book 7 and not really feel as though one is missing anything.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">The plot in intriguing but the better informed reader (and I would not class myself as one of those readers) could work out the plot twist way before the DI.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">I personally loved the English setting but disliked the use of some American prose which, for me, did not sit right with the characters and the book as a whole.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">I did not like the dynamic between the two main characters or the pull of the higher ups on DI Wharton.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">This is the seventh book in the series (and the first one I have read).&nbsp; It does nothing to entice the reader to go back to the beginning or even to read further into the series; and this reader does love murder/mystery/thriller novels.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Which, in this case, was just 2 stars.</span></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-51669759050694001562016-07-08T13:18:00.002-07:002016-07-27T10:28:51.912-07:00So much can happen in six months ...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QuFqHRi7WlQ/V4AKIhdDUtI/AAAAAAAAA6c/gfqY4evYY2Qj-SKqHBpUA9iysgMC3buWACLcB/s1600/The%2BHope%2BFamily%2BCalendar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QuFqHRi7WlQ/V4AKIhdDUtI/AAAAAAAAA6c/gfqY4evYY2Qj-SKqHBpUA9iysgMC3buWACLcB/s1600/The%2BHope%2BFamily%2BCalendar.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Blurb:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tom Hope is broken. &nbsp;Ever since his wife Laura dies he hasn't been the same man, and definitely not the same father. &nbsp;Luckily however, his moth-in-law Linda is there to pick up the pieces and look after his struggling daughters, Evie and Lola.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But Tom getting arrested on the first anniversary of his wife's death is the last straw for Linda.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She decides on drastic action, and in a final attempt to make Tom reconnect with his daughters, Linda leaves for Australia. &nbsp;Now, with two fast-maturing girls on his hands. Tom has to learn how to accept his responsibilities and navigate the newly discovered world of single fatherhood - starting immediately.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While Linda finds her journey brings more than she bargained for, Tom suddenly has only himself to rely on.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Will he fall back int grief or finally step yo and be the father his girls need?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bittersweet, funny and sad, THE HOPE FAMILY CALENDAR is a novel about grief, love and family.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Review:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">This author (a new one for me) lives in Birmingham which makes me wonder why he set this book in Reigate, the town next to my home town.&nbsp; Not that I mind, I loved that I could really identify with location of this novel even though they were subject to ‘poetic’ license.&nbsp; I can honestly say that I have had a cuppa in the local Morrisons’ (previously Safeway); and I know where the Red Lion is.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">The story is told through two points of view and deals with loss and I suppose rebirth of each character.&nbsp; Although the overall tone of this tome is that of loss, this novel is not really depressing.&nbsp; It shows how a family can deal with loss through the inevitable sadness, and later with irony and humour.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">I have not read a Mike Gaye book before but he does give life (for all its foibles) to his characters and you can really relate to them, warts and all.&nbsp; Each character’s feelings are honest, genuine and therefore easily relatable.&nbsp; As with life, the story is not totally black and white, there are quite a number of grey areas, not least the unexpected relevel near the end.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">What I loved most where the characters, not just the ones whose points of view were represented in the book but also Lola, Evie, Charles and Fran.&nbsp; These characters are so real and believable, so much so that you could quite easily meet them on a Reigate street.&nbsp; However, they are not stagnant … the author allows them to grow and mature throughout the novel, so the Hope Family that you meet at the beginning of the book is not the same as that at the end and likewise for the lesser characters.&nbsp; Don’t get me wrong, they are not flawless which makes them all the more irrelevant.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;">The family presented in this book is whole and well developed and then the bombshell drops and this novel shows what happens in the fall out.&nbsp; Each person reacts differently as would be expected and the storytelling in this novel is above par.&nbsp; This novel deals with a serious subject with great aplomb.&nbsp; Everyone, at a stage in their life has to deal with grief so why is it such a taboo subject?&nbsp; This novel hopes to make it more accepted.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All that said, though, the ending did feel unfinished, but then again isn’t that what a lived life is… The main element of the story is hope through adversity and this reader will be looking for more novels by this writer I the future.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thank you Netglley for allowing me to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I rated this I liked it on Netgalley, Goodreads and Amazon</span></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-22263375706685265972016-05-17T14:56:00.000-07:002016-05-17T14:56:38.892-07:00All love is Improbable - let's be honest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RcZXs0yX6AY/VzuRHlVJH6I/AAAAAAAAA5o/2DXL8765jKUiexNmVgYaR6ykiiDFx2-xgCLcB/s1600/the%2Bimprobability%2Bof%2Blove.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RcZXs0yX6AY/VzuRHlVJH6I/AAAAAAAAA5o/2DXL8765jKUiexNmVgYaR6ykiiDFx2-xgCLcB/s1600/the%2Bimprobability%2Bof%2Blove.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><b>Blurb</b>:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">When lovelorn Annie McDee stumbles across a dirty painting in a junk shop while looking for a present for an unstable man, she had no idea what she has discovered. &nbsp;Soon she finds herself drawn unwillingly into the tumultuous London art world, populated by exiles Russian oligarchs, avaricious Sheikas, desperate auctioneers and unscrupulous dealers, all scheming to get their hands on her painting - a lost eighteenth-century masterpiece called 'The Improbability of Love'. &nbsp;Delving into the painting's past, Annie will uncover not just an illustrious list of former owners, but some of the darkest secrets of European history - a in doing so she might just learn to open up to the possibility of falling in love again.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Review</b>:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Apart from reading ‘The Girl with the Pearl Ear-ring’ many years ago I have not read many novels about art.&nbsp; Where this one differs from the aforementioned, this novel is about the mad, mad world of art acquisitions and auctions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">The improbability of love does not merely refer to artwork itself but how we find love in the most improbable of places, how it or the lack of it influences our actions and affects our lives for good or ill.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Throughout the novel we meet many interesting characters who although well written and researched but due to the sheer number of them many felt rather two dimensional.&nbsp; The novel had quite a few points of view which could be rather confusion but each POV was written in a different way.&nbsp; Interestingly enough we also get the POV of the artwork itself which was original and fascinating.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">The POVs include those of wealthy society types, gallery owners, Russian oligarchs, politicians, scholar, restorers, and ‘ordinary everyday’ people.&nbsp; Their lives are both fascinating and on occasion heart-breaking … the lengths people will go to, to acquire an important piece of art.&nbsp; However, instead of being a major part of the plot; many could have merely been supporting characters as is befitting their station.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">The plot was reasonably paced and suspenseful.&nbsp; Without giving too much away there was a mention of Holocaust/Nazi history. Although a literary work of fiction the descriptions of the art and the food draw you in and make you want to be a part of the action.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">One of the main characters and the unwitting owner of the artwork was Annie who had a very dysfunctional relationship with life, love and her alcoholic mother.&nbsp; Yet through the novel Annie grows and develops her love of life, work and another.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">This book is good albeit there were, in places large gaps in the story; and the ending felt rather rushed.&nbsp; There seemed to be huge gaps between some significant events near the end, as if the author had been given a page count and had to cut a lot of the novel out to achieve it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Sometimes the novel cannot decide whether it wants to be a modern or even archaic romance, a satire of the London art scene, a cooking book, a mystery, a history of the lives who owned the painting or of art theft in Nazi Germany.&nbsp; Perhaps the author was trying to cover too much ground in her debut novel.&nbsp; All that taken together with the rather archaic/literary and foreign words used could put quite a few readers off.&nbsp; Thank goodness for the build in dictionary feature of my Kindle. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">I think the most interesting part of the novel was the restoration and researching the history of the artwork (proving is provenance); and what this painting meant to its creator and each of its owners.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">As a first novel this work is reasonably well polished although some more editing would have given it more of a gleam.&nbsp; I will definitely be looking for more works by this author.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Netgalley review 4 stars, Goodreads and Amazon review 4 stars</span></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-26189309882206131192016-05-17T11:54:00.002-07:002016-05-17T14:56:35.266-07:00I still don't know why 'We are the Hanged Man'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gagxNB7-qK0/Vztltq4OscI/AAAAAAAAA5Y/ZdYTNNYHdA4pmf0Zln81g8Hw6q8JxEOHQCLcB/s1600/We%2Bare%2Bthe%2Bhanged%2Bman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gagxNB7-qK0/Vztltq4OscI/AAAAAAAAA5Y/ZdYTNNYHdA4pmf0Zln81g8Hw6q8JxEOHQCLcB/s320/We%2Bare%2Bthe%2Bhanged%2Bman.jpg" width="213" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Blurb:</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The Hanged Man is coming, and there's nothing you can do to stop him ...</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Durrant was the most brutal, psychotic killer the Met had ever come across. Captured in the early '80s, he should have been in prison for the rest of his life. Someone had other ideas.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thirty years later, DCI Jericho, the man who put Durrant away, is working in quiet anonymity in the West Country, living with the guilt of the one case he never solved: &nbsp;the disappearance of his own wife.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Hanged Man tarot card that arrives in the mail seems like a trivial joke, but it's only the beginning. &nbsp;Soon people are disappearing, and Durrarnt is back to his old ways.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Suddenly Jericho is being thrown to the wolves. &nbsp;The noose tightens, the body count rises, and events spin helplessly towards a shocking and bloody climax.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Review</b>:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">This is a police procedural novel set in the West Country of the UK.&nbsp; Although it is well plotted and makes you want to continue reading it is written in a gloomy ploddy fashion, much like the protagonist of the novel.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">DCI Jericho is rather an unlikeable gloomy, damaged (aren’t they all?) do with only one real companion in the Somerset and Wells Police force.&nbsp; He is even disliked by his Chief Superintendent (the reason for which is divulged later in the novel).&nbsp; He does not suffer fools gladly and despises a lot of things especially cheap ‘popular’ television and yet he is assigned to be the Police representative for a reality TV show.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">So whilst he is not participating in the reality show is also has to try and sole a crime or two.&nbsp; This character did not really come off the page for me.&nbsp; I think he was too much inside his own head.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">I did not really get into this novel despite it being well written and with an intriguing plot.&nbsp; Don’t get me wrong I love mystery thriller novels and the creepier and gorier the better but this one was so bland.&nbsp; There were humorous light touches thanks to the DCI’s only ‘friend’ and partner DS Haynes</span><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">; but other than that there was very little to bring this novel out of the doldrums. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">Like the rest of the novel the ending felt flat too.&nbsp; Too little action rather too late with very little explanation and too many things were left open ended – a perfect set up for book 2 (which I was going to read next but needed something lighter before getting to it). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am not really into satirical books and perhaps for this reason this novel didn’t grab me.&nbsp; If this genre of book is your bag then this is probably the book for you.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this book for an honest review. &nbsp;</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Netgalley 3 stars; Goodreads 2 stars; Amazon 3 stars.</span></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-63196435455359594552016-05-03T17:21:00.001-07:002016-05-17T11:43:41.034-07:00Who is the Honeysuckle Girl and why does she need burying?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hLumXoqoON8/VylAUCCRBBI/AAAAAAAAA5E/NPS5cKIt24cT2eUjVvJN43MKSqjaOP95ACLcB/s1600/51CGEPIpYqL._SX332_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hLumXoqoON8/VylAUCCRBBI/AAAAAAAAA5E/NPS5cKIt24cT2eUjVvJN43MKSqjaOP95ACLcB/s320/51CGEPIpYqL._SX332_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Blurb:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Althea Bell is still heartbroken by her mother's tragic, premature death - and tormented by the last, frantic words she whispered into young Althea's ear: <i>Wait for her. &nbsp;For the honeysuckle girl. &nbsp;She'll find you, I think, but if she doesn't, you find her.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Adrift ever since, Althea is nor fresh out of rehab and returning to her family home in Mobile, Alabama, determined to reconnect with her estranged, ailing father, &nbsp;While Althea doesn't expect him, or her politically ambitious brother, to welcome her with open arms, she's not prepared for the chilling revelation of a grim, long-buried family secret. &nbsp;Fragile and desperate, Althea escapes with an old flame to uncover the truth about her lineage. &nbsp;Drawn deeper into her ancestors' lives, Althea begins to unearth their disturbing history ... and the part she's meant to play in it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Griping and visceral, this unforgettable debut delves straight into the heart of dark family secrets and into one woman's emotional journey to save herself from a sinister inheritance.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Review:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A well-crafted novel written from two points of view; one from the 1930s and one from the 2010s. &nbsp;What starts as a simple time-sensitive search by one woman for the truth about her mother becomes somewhat of a quest that entails generations of the family and others. &nbsp;It will keep you guessing right to the end. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I cannot say I was gripped from the beginning but I was certainly intrigued but once the story got involved and the first intimation of the mystery was mentioned I was hooked. &nbsp;Towards the end it was a case of oh how much further ‘til the end; Ok I’ll read just one more chapter and the next I know some 2 hours later at 4.30 am I had finished and what an ending it was.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I liked the way the author wrote to book from two points of view and more intrigued as to how these women, some 75 years apart were essentially being treated the same by the men of the family. &nbsp;In the 1930s women were essentially the property of their father until they were given to their husband on their wedding day and felt no remorse in butting in throughout their married life. &nbsp;It would also seem that in modern Alabama, in ‘upper class’ families this is also an unspoken rule.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Although written from two points of view, there is no confusion as to which story you are reading, even though there are many similarities between the two stories which make the story more suspenseful. &nbsp;It also keeps the reader reading so that we can learn the conclusion of both these inter- connected stories. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The characters are beautifully written, they have real depth of character and many redeeming features. &nbsp;They are written in such a way that you want them to secure their own happiness and have a good resolution of their story; and find out what really happened on these women’s thirtieth birthday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">You empathise with Jinn and her plight; the way she is treated by her family and the distain she experiences from her young son. &nbsp;One of her only bright spots is her relationship with a neighbour. &nbsp;Throughout the novel you want Jinn to have her ‘HEA’. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the case of Althea you feel all of her despair as she re-enters the world only to find that it is different to the one she left. &nbsp;Again this woman is written such that you want to see her success in her quest, and to overcome her demons (both real and imagined) and history. &nbsp;Althea’s exploits are both hilarious and yet in places rather disturbing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The author also paints a very real world within which her characters live. &nbsp;I have never been to Alabama but the description of the area is really vivid and comes alive on the pages. &nbsp;That together with the old gothic charm added to this psychological mystery.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I was surprised to learn that this was a debut novel as the writing was so polished; and the plot well throughout and beautifully executed. &nbsp;The ending was satisfying and a fitting conclusion for this novel. &nbsp;You will be touched, disturbed, and appalled at Althea’s plight and treatment; so much so that you will be affected by this novel for quite a while. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I will definitely be looking for more novels by this author. &nbsp;Thank you, Netgalley, for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Netgalley Review 4 stars; Goodreads review 4 stars; Amazon review 4 stars</div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-50788142487552715572015-12-02T16:41:00.001-08:002015-12-02T16:41:33.816-08:00Who is this mysterious<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gpULTpVUDys/Vl-OQT24_PI/AAAAAAAAA4U/77n0xwIrd4s/s1600/22915460.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gpULTpVUDys/Vl-OQT24_PI/AAAAAAAAA4U/77n0xwIrd4s/s320/22915460.jpg" width="215" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Blurb:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the village of Lauscha in Germany, things have been done the same way for centuries. &nbsp;The men blow the glass, and the women decorate and pack it. &nbsp;But when Jost Steinmann passes away unexpectedly one September night, his three saughters must learn to fend for themselves. While feisty Johanna takes a practical approach to looking for work. &nbsp;Ruth follows her heart, aming to catch gthe eye of a handsome young villagere. &nbsp;But is is dreamy, quirt Marie who had always been the most capticated by the magic - and sparkling possibilities - of the craft of glassblowing. &nbsp;As the spirited sisters work together to forge a brighter future fr themselves on their own terms, they learn not only how to thrive in a man's world, but how to remain true to themselves - and their hearts - in the process.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Review:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">My previous experience of translated novels has not been good until recently and since then it has been blown away.&nbsp; Perhaps it was the subject matter that affected my previous experience or that modern translators are not so literal but convey the essence of the novel.&nbsp; Whatever it is I am glad that I have resumed my adventures into translated novels; otherwise this gem would have gone unread.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">My initial reaction was how is this about the glassblower who dies in the first chapter leaving three daughters.&nbsp; Each daughter has a particular trait which most of us can identify with. &nbsp;The sisters relationships with each other is reasonably realistic and engaging; but at times annoying beyond belief (as it is with normal sisters).<b>&nbsp; </b>As we experience their trials and tribulations we also learn who the glassblower actually is.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">This is not an historical novel per se and even the glass blowing elements (albeit fascinating when they occur) are few and far between.&nbsp; The characters are well written even though sometimes what they do or say is at odds with the setting of the novel; they are extremely interesting whilst they are extremely flawed.&nbsp; Initially they are portrayed as innocent and annoying, having been cosseted by their father (and not knowing the ways of the world – be it good or ill) but when they experience ‘real life; they become hardened to it; and move forward, and take on untraditional roles in their village of glassblowers. &nbsp;But the novel develops these characters and they become reasonably grounded women who have found their place in their world.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">I cannot say that the action is constant or fast paced as they are periods of monotonous inactivity.&nbsp; Indeed the story line does not have a definite time line and appears to jump in places. &nbsp;Ultimately this is a novel of women overcoming adversity by becoming successful against all the odds.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">This reader has becomes so involved with these women that she will be looking forward to reading the next novels in this series.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Full&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Disclosure: I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">I rated this 4 stars on Netgalley and 'I really liked it' on Amazon (4 stars) and Goodreads (4 stars).</span></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-80898783826533475532015-12-02T16:24:00.001-08:002015-12-02T16:24:06.886-08:00Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem in Elizabethan England<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RP6xmshXUXE/Vl-LFRjEbLI/AAAAAAAAA4M/ig8gcAnTIyI/s1600/8874626.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RP6xmshXUXE/Vl-LFRjEbLI/AAAAAAAAA4M/ig8gcAnTIyI/s320/8874626.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Blurb:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">TWO QUESTIONS HAVE ALWAYS PLAGUED HISTORIANS: &nbsp;HOW COULD Christopher Marlow, a known spy and England's foremost playwright, be suspiciously murdered and quickly buried in an unmarked grave - just days before he was to be tried for treason? &nbsp;HOW COULD William Shakespeare replace Marlowe as England's greatest playwright virtually overnight - when Shakespeare had never written any thing before and was merely an unknown actor? &nbsp;Historians have noted that the Bard of Stratford was better known at that time "for holding horses for the gentry while they watched plays". &nbsp;The Shakespeare Conspiracy is a historical novel that intertwines the two mysteries and then puts the pieced together to offer the only plausible resolution. &nbsp;The novel, a wild romp through gay 16th Century Elizabethan England, is a rapidly unfolding detective story filled with comedy, intrigue, murder and illicit love. &nbsp;And most importantly, all&nbsp;recorded&nbsp;events, persons,&nbsp;dates and documents are historically accurate, &nbsp;You will ... Get the scandalous view of the real William Shakespeare, with his sexual peccadilloes, illegitimate children and mistresses ... Wander through the gay world of Christopher Marlowe, when it was acceptable to be homosexual just so long as one stayed within one's own class - ad did Kings like James I, Edward II and others ... &nbsp;Observe Inspector Henry Maunder matching wits with Christopher Marlowe's patron, Sir Thomas Walsingham - one cleverly hiding the facts and other cunningly discovering the truth ... &nbsp;Watch the arguments unfold, showing the actual reasons tat many historians believe that it could only have been Christopher Marlowe writing tall those great works. &nbsp;It's a tale of murder, mayhem and manhunts in the underbelly of&nbsp;London&nbsp;as the Back Plague scourges the&nbsp;country and the greatest conspiracy plot of all time is hatched. &nbsp;It's ... The Shakespeare Conspiracy!</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Review:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Elizabethan history has been a topic of great discussion, deliberation (and is one of this reader’s favourite historical periods).&nbsp; It is often the topic of many mysteries not </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">least those many novels based on the work of the astrologer John Dee.&nbsp; This is a period of history that is extremely rich</span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> in more ways than one.&nbsp; The Tudor era is a topic that this reader is particularly interested in the many works of John Dee but for many other reasons including the Witch Holocaust and the Shakespeare ‘who was he really’ question (previously dealt with to some extent in the excellent novel The Rose Labyrinth??).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">This novel, in particular, proposes that Shakespeare was a member of the infamous ‘School of the Night’ which included Christopher Marlowe,George Chapman, Thomas Harriot, and&nbsp;Sir Walter Raleigh (and is mentioned in Love’s Labour Lost).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">This novel is apparently the result of 10 years of extensive and meticulous research which is evident (not least in the many appendices that are added at the end of the novel which make least 20% of the total of the novel (according to my Kindle) but not having read it all this reader is not sure how much of this is repeated from the novel itself.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">This novel proposed an alternative reason for Marlowe’s early death and the sudden resurgence of Shakespeare; and for this reader had a certain ring of truth to it.&nbsp; What did rankle this reader is that there are just too may modernisms used in the narrative as whole to totally immerse this novel in the Elizabethan era; an era familiar to most historians and others.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">All that said the characters, for me, felt rather one dimensional.&nbsp; It seemed that that the author had spent so much time on finding the footing of this novel that he did not establish plausible and fascinating characters.&nbsp; Another element that detracted from this novel were the numerous spelling and punctuation errors which this reader hopes are fund before final publication.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Even though this period of history is shrouded in mystery the novel is written in an easy manner and flows from one historical detail to the next be it in England, or Italy; Padua or Venice, Verona, Milan or Sicily.&nbsp; Having not visited many of these places I cannot say whether their portrayal is accurate.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Although this is a well-researched novel, founded on fact, it is not necessary for the reader to know every miniscule detail that occurred during this historic period.&nbsp; Yet despite this meticulous research there were still some historical errors such as people drinking tea some 100 or so years early.&nbsp; Also there was the introduction of 21<sup>st</sup> century language with did not fit with the telling of the story at all.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Although overall the story is interesting the ‘history professor’ butts in very frequently giving us extraneous background material that would have been better left in the appendices (as detailed as they are).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">If you want an alternative point of view of this period in English history you cannot go far wrong but be aware of the provisos in this review.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Full Disclosure: I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I rated this 4 stars on Netgalley and 'I liked it' on Goodreads (3 stars) and Amazon (4 stars).</span></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-46950014145880819162015-11-30T14:30:00.000-08:002015-11-30T14:30:00.075-08:00I am sure this is the beauty saloon everyone wants to go to:<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y6ZO6JJeL6A/VluX8yA7PMI/AAAAAAAAA34/GUdXHuORED4/s1600/24789735%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y6ZO6JJeL6A/VluX8yA7PMI/AAAAAAAAA34/GUdXHuORED4/s320/24789735%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Blurb:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Stella's mama never should've put Stella on the church prayer list. &nbsp;With Stella's twenty-seventh birthday coming up fast, Nancy desperately wants to see her daughter married and giving her grandbabies. &nbsp;Petitioning heaved seems like a surefire way to get it done. &nbsp;But in Cadillac, Texas, where the gossip's hotter than the city's famous jalapeño peppers, it isn't long before all hell breaks loose.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Heather, the bossy leader of the chruch's Prayer Angels, thinks a summer ball will get Stella and the town's other single gals paired off. &nbsp;But nobody can tell redheaded spitfire Stella what to so - not her mama, not Heather, and not even the sexy beau Stella's been seeing in secret. &nbsp; Together, Stella, her best friends Charlotte and Piper, and te loyal customers of the Yellow Rose Beauty Shop hatch a good old-fashioned scheme to sabotage the ball. &nbsp;But will it wreck Stella's relationship with her mama forever? &nbsp;And what will the church folk think when Stella reveals the identity of her mystery man?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Review:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">When I started reading this novel I did not realise that it was the third in the series.&nbsp; But having realised that it did explain why many of the relationships felt grounded so early (they had been begun two books earlier).&nbsp; To be honest, it did not really matter, although this reader will be looking for the preceding novels as this one as such good fun.&nbsp; I was captured by this novel from the get do and did it held my attention until the final page.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I am not one to reveal the plot of the novels I review but believe me when I say this one is a humdinger.&nbsp; It seems to be a modern Steel Magnolias but in contrast it is laugh-out-loud funny.&nbsp; For this reader it epitomises the ‘movie/vampire’ notion of what the Deep South is.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">As with Steel Magnolias this is a novel about the relationship of strong minded and strong willed women who have interfering alpha mothers.&nbsp; As in most life situations there is a mean girl and the one in this novel is a doozy.&nbsp; Each character is unique (as I life) but the reader can identify with each and every one of these women.&nbsp; There is a wonderful American usage of malapropisms courtesy of Agnes (I soo want to be her when I grow old) which is one of the many reasons that made this a laugh-out-loud novel. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The characters in this book are well rounded, rich, relatable, and leap off the page.&nbsp; They are sassy, independent, loyal and full of heart.&nbsp; This novel deals with relationships, new beginnings and ultimately gossip and its consequences.&nbsp; Ultimately this novel epitomise small town America; and how everyone knows everybody else’s business.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Although laugh-out-loud funny there are strong themes in this book, together with a powerful romance that makes the heart beat faster.&nbsp; This is this reader’s first Carolyn Brown novel but I can categorically say it will not be her last.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">If you miss this novel you will be missing a treat.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I rated this 4 stars at Netgalley and 'I liked it' at Amazon (4 stars) and Goodreads (3 stars).</div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-21382994543292276632015-11-29T16:09:00.000-08:002015-11-29T16:09:25.718-08:00We are all awaiting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CqQXtOyFNOQ/VluQuB_urmI/AAAAAAAAA3o/8nMICHKccEk/s1600/The%2BArrival.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CqQXtOyFNOQ/VluQuB_urmI/AAAAAAAAA3o/8nMICHKccEk/s320/The%2BArrival.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Blurb:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Beneath a cloak of darkness and mystery, it has arrived ...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Palestine: 1948 - With the winds of war fast approaching an&nbsp;scrupulous&nbsp;archaeologist&nbsp;finally&nbsp;finds&nbsp;the&nbsp;remains of the man he's been&nbsp;shearing&nbsp;for ...&nbsp;unfittingly&nbsp;releasing an ancient&nbsp;evil&nbsp;on the world.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">White River, Arkansas: 1980 - In a secret lab, top-level medical scientists work together to harness the power of previously unheard of DNA manipulation. &nbsp;But when the project finally comes to fruition with the birth of a specially"designed" baby. &nbsp;It just as abruptly comes to a bloody halt, with the facilities and nearly every member of the team wiped out, silenced forever ... almost.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">White River, Arkansas: 2019 - The small town awakens one morning to find itself ground zero of a joint UN-US terrorist training exercise. &nbsp;Residents face martial law, a cashless economy, and a host of ruthless leaders seemingly bent on making the maneuvers more than just a military operation. &nbsp;Outraged citizens begin to rise up and fight back, but it soon become clear that something evil has arrived in White River ...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A darkness unleashed on an unsuspecting world."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Review:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">As a fervent Matthew Riley, Raymond Khoury fan I thought this would suit my need for factual based mystery thrillers with a bit of sci-fi thrown in.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I would not say that this was the easiest read ever but it was very thought provoking.&nbsp; There were three distinct timelines in this novel 1948, 1980 and 2015.&nbsp; Each time-line provided an interesting element to the story.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The relationship between the two main characters of the 1948 part of the novel was not explained in enough detail and left this reader scratching their head later in the novel.&nbsp; The 1980s DNA sections were interesting but gruesome; and it is this reader’s fervent hope that such things did not and do not continue to occur.&nbsp; The way the three storylines merge is interesting to say the least.&nbsp; Yet slightly fantastical!<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">This novel started really well and this reader’s initial assumption made concerning the ‘unnamed Jew’ was incorrect yet my second guess turned out to be correct.&nbsp; But how one gets from a despot Jew to the antichrist is too much for this reader to comprehend.&nbsp; There were quite a few places where the detailed dialogue not only did not ring true but affected the action and pace of the novel.&nbsp; I am not sure if this is intended as part of the ‘preachy’ part of the novel or something that just happened but it did detract from the whole experience.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The story is told in the third party and therefore throughout the book the point of view (‘POV’) changes which can be rather confusing for the inattentive reader.&nbsp; That said this reader followed the story easily.&nbsp; The story itself was well paced with loads of action (it may have even left the way open for a sequel).&nbsp; The book also dealt with many ‘taboo’ issues with a great deal of grace.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">This reader felt that the ending was rushed, unless the author intends to produce another novel in the series and then the novel ended just right.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">It is this reader’s fervent hope that this does not happen but then again would the antichrist use those people who are the dregs of society – somehow this reader does not think so.&nbsp; This novel got me to question my faith to a degree and in so doing resulted in me deepening my faith (not too bad for a novel!).</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I rated this 4 stars on Netgalley and 'I liked it' on Goodreads (3 stars) and Amazon (4 stars).</div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5920114411043704011.post-18006545227901421912015-11-26T19:07:00.001-08:002015-11-26T19:14:45.316-08:00Humans are the lessor species and now it's the<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-78vpEc7TDhY/VlfIOIjuspI/AAAAAAAAA3c/h2vtYW7vvw4/s1600/Reign%2Bof%2Bthe%2BVampire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-78vpEc7TDhY/VlfIOIjuspI/AAAAAAAAA3c/h2vtYW7vvw4/s320/Reign%2Bof%2Bthe%2BVampire.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Blurb:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She wants security. &nbsp;He wants freedom. &nbsp;Together their love could destroy the world.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ten years after the outbreak of the V2000 virus turns the majority of humans into a mutated Vampire sub-species, the last remaining true humans are the world's hottest commodity. &nbsp;In this new world, it's The Society that rules.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Being the only female Vampire Lord in America isn't easy. &nbsp;Being thrust into the role of CEO is even harder. &nbsp;Danika Chekov refuses to let her father's legacy die. &nbsp;She's resolved to keep everything under her tight control. &nbsp;But after she's almost killed, she's forced to purchase a human guardian.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mason s human, or so the Vampires think. &nbsp;He's determined to protect his secret, but Lord Danika buys him before he can make his escape. &nbsp;Their passion for each other threatens everything they want most. &nbsp;And when Mason's true nature is exposed, the results could be devastating</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b>Review:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I absolutely love books about vampires, especially modern books that have vampires living alongside humans.&nbsp; So you would have thought that I would also love this book.&nbsp; To be honest I am not sure how I feel about this book.&nbsp; It had loads of potential but for me fell very short.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I personally did not think that the world building was complete.&nbsp; We have three distinct types of vampire and the distinctions between them are not fully explained enough for my liking.&nbsp; I can understand the uprising and the V2000 release but the vampire distinctions left me cold.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">So in this new world, vampires were lording it over humans but whereas previously humans were able to live free lives; here they were slaves to the vampires.&nbsp; Why I ask was this necessary?&nbsp; Oh wait it was to make it so that vampires become the salvation of humankind.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Lord Danika (surely this should be Lady; but what the hay), seems to be a lady lost in a man’s world (so what’s new I hear you ask!) and as the youngest Lord she is trying too hard to fill her father’s shoes and for me with little success.&nbsp; She was being pressured to find a mate (again so what is new!).<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">This novel fails on numerous counts, the lack of action between Lord Danika and her underlings and Lord Danika and her love interest.&nbsp; Everything seems to be too cold and calculated.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">For the majority of the book Lord Danika left me cold.&nbsp; She spend too much time wishing she was her father’s son rather than getting on and dealing with the job in hand; ie being a big fearless leader: (or is it a case of the fact that she has to work twice as hard at everything in this modern world to equal one man?)&nbsp; Bearing in mind the number of years you have been one earth you should know this is the case!&nbsp; Wake up girl and smell the roses, oh sorry you can’t you are a vampire!<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">While this vampire is trying to rule her ‘nest’ there are humans who have not been captured and are doing anything they can to remain free.&nbsp; One such human is Mason who becomes Danika’s love interest but the way the character is written you just know his is more!&nbsp; (More I cannot say lest I spoil the plot for future readers.)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">There were two big reveals in this book and only one of them caught me of guard.&nbsp; The second reveal had left hints throughout the book so it was no big surprise.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">As this is the first in a series one would expect to be grabbed in kicking and screaming wanting to read more, more, more.&nbsp; Yet for this reader this novel was very lacking not least the weak vampire heroine (if one can even call her that).&nbsp; This reader, for one, will not be continuing with this saga.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Full Disclosure: I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I rated this 2 stars on Netgalley and 'It was OK' on Goodreads (2 stars) and Amazon (3 stars).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;"><b><br /></b></span></div>Tania Godwin-Evanshttps://plus.google.com/101126257953011872492noreply@blogger.com0